country

Wei Shantai looked serious, asked about the situation, immediately rushed to Prince Yin's side, and explained the matter in detail.

Prince Yin pondered for a long time, and calmly said: "Master Wei, you can always ask something if you lead people to the Shangshu Mansion and take Chen Shangting's family servants to prison."

Wei Shantai frowned, cupped his hands and said: "I understand." With a wave of his hand, he said in a deep voice: "Go!" He led the purple clothes and walked away quickly.

Prince Yin clenched his fists and fell into deep thought again. After a while, he said, "President Teng, lead the people in."

Teng Xifeng said respectfully: "Yes!" Turning around, he said to the crowd: "Everyone, please come with me." He glanced at Xue Poye again, and said slowly: "Vice President Xue, you also come together." Lead the way and lead the people to the warehouse.

Walking to the main entrance of the bank, Teng Xifeng ordered everyone to take off their weapons and enter the warehouse empty-handed, but he didn't let everyone take off their clothes and go in.

Although Teng Xifeng's official position is not higher than that of Mo Yi and Luo Wuyan, but the situation is special at this time. His Majesty the Emperor personally ordered Yu Linying to temporarily manage the household bank, so although everyone was dissatisfied, they could only untie their weapons. Po Ye took off the saber, but did not take off the "cold blade" in his waist, and brought it into the Treasury of the household department.

A group of people, led by Teng Xifeng and Prince Yin, entered the treasury of the Ministry of Households, an important place in the Great Chu.

The inside is quiet, even the snow on the ground has not been swept away. It is a thick layer. There are several rows of huge rock warehouses in front of it. There are eight warehouses in each row. The stone gates are tightly closed. Standing are several tall men like giants in the wild, with leather armor on their bodies, unlike the usual bank officials who are naked.

Xue Poye followed the crowd, looking around, he couldn't help being very puzzled, the surrounding area was extremely peaceful, there was nothing unusual at all, but he didn't know what happened.

Teng Xifeng led the crowd to a stone gate, took out a roll of yellow silk from his bosom, opened it, and said in a deep voice, "This is the order of the Holy Majesty to open the gate, open the gate."

The strong men next to him saw that there was His Majesty's jade seal on the yellow silk, and after a respectful salute and a wave, another strong man walked over quickly. Two strong men pulled the copper ring on the stone gate, and one more The Hercules ran to the edge of the stone gate, made a palm with his left hand, pressed it against a slightly protruding stone on the wall, and shouted loudly: "Open!"

The two strong men pulling the copper rings also shouted in unison: "Open!" One left and one right pulled the copper rings, and they were about to open the stone gate.

Everyone stared at Shimen, and saw gaps appearing bit by bit, and the muscles of the two strong men were as tense as rocks, their faces were flushed, and the strong man who was pressing the convex stone was also "hoo hoo" in a low voice. Roaring, his neck was red from holding back, from this point of view, opening the stone door was really not an ordinary difficulty.

Everyone watched with stern expressions as the stone door of the bank was opened, gradually revealing a long dark road.

When the stone gate opened, Prince Yin said indifferently: "Come in." After speaking, he took the lead to enter the bank, and the others looked at each other, and followed them in.

A strong man followed everyone into the house, and Prince Yin asked, "Is the mechanism sealed?"

The Hercules immediately replied: "Your Highness, the mechanism is sealed, Your Highness need not worry." After finishing speaking, the Hercules stepped forward and groped on the wall twice. Everyone was wondering, but they heard a strange sound of "Ka Ka Ka Ka" , The originally pitch-black passage instantly lit up.

It was only then that everyone realized that from the walls on both sides, there were slowly switched-off light stands, and on the light stands were crystal clear night pearls.

On the thick walls on both sides, there are a total of eight luminous pearls. The passageway illuminated is as bright as day, and everyone is amazed. In the treasury, there are so many precious luminous pearls. Even in the extremely wealthy Chu State, there are only a few luminous pearls produced. A bank has eight luminous pearls. If each room has the same number of luminous pearls, it can be seen the number There are so many, which also shows the prosperity of Dachu.

Prince Yin sighed, pointed to a long and narrow passage in front of him, and said calmly: "Everyone, it seems that there may be just a very ordinary passage in front of you, but I remind you that if the mechanism is not sealed, this short road It is the way of death, and in this short passage, there are seven traps, and almost no one in the world can pass through the traps when they are opened."

Everyone present believed in this point very much. After all, this is an important place of the country, and it would be very strange if one could easily enter it.

When Xue Poye was outside the silver vault, he saw that the width of the silver vault was extremely long, probably more than ten meters wide, but after entering the stone gate, it was a very narrow passage, only two meters wide, so It seems that the walls on both sides add up to more than ten meters thick, which can be said to be incomparably astonishing. The walls of more than ten meters may be the place where the mechanism is installed.

Xue Poye was just wondering why Prince Yin brought everyone into the treasury. You need to know that this is an important place in the country. Except for the officials of the household department, other officials, no matter how big, are not allowed to set foot in it. To enter the storeroom, one must take off all clothes and wear shorts with a bamboo stick in his mouth.

Today's group of people, except for Prince Yin, is not an official of the household department, and they came in without taking off their clothes or stuffing bamboo, which is really extraordinary.

A group of people continued to move forward, the passage was not long, and after a while, everyone came to another stone gate, but this time the stone gate was much smaller than the big stone gate outside. "Clatter" slowly opened.

"Come in!" Prince Yin's voice was cold, and he entered the room first.

Xue Poye followed the crowd into the house, and saw that it was an extremely wide and huge stone house. The surrounding walls were smooth and flat, and looked very thick. Row after row of stone frames in the house were arranged in an orderly manner, like Row after row of bookshelves in the city library.

Xue Poye secretly exclaimed in his heart, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, how could he have imagined the grandeur of the bank, but his mind soon became clear and he realized something.

"This is the bank?" Xue Poye frowned, looking around: "But where is the silver?"

There was nothing on the row after row of stone shelves, not even a single ingot of official silver.

House of Ministers of the Household Department.

Wei Shantai, Governor of Kyoto, stood with his hands behind his back, in the study of Chen Shangting, Minister of the Household Department.

The study room was originally a quiet and elegant place, but at this moment, the study room was filled with the smell of blood. Chen Shangting's corpse was resting peacefully on the large nanmu chair, his eyes were closed, his face was purple, and the corner of his mouth was stained with blood. There was even a weird smile, that kind of smile made people feel creepy when they saw it.

A purple-clothed man walked in gently outside the door, and said respectfully: "My lord, Chen Shangting's family has all been brought back to the Yamen."

"Does anyone know why Chen Shangting committed suicide?" Wei Shantai asked solemnly.

Zi Yi immediately said: "My lord, we asked Mrs. Chen, Chen Shangting seems to be in a very unstable mood recently, sleeping very late every night, Mrs. Chen tried to persuade him several times, but he just smiled and comforted him. Mrs. Chen did not expect that he would suddenly drink poison Alcohol suicide."

Wei Shantai nodded, and ordered: "Before the matter is clear, don't be rude to Mrs. Chen."

Zi Yi respectfully said: "Yes!"

Wei Shantai approached the table, picked up the jug on the table, opened the lid and smelled it, and said lightly: "It smells so strong, it seems that Chen Shangting is still afraid of dying, so he poured a lot of Hedinghong." After a pause , suddenly asked: "Is there any possibility of killing him? Is it possible that someone else poisoned him?"

Ziyi said with certainty: "No, my subordinates can conclude that Chen Shangting definitely committed suicide. There was a strong smell of medicine in his mouth. Just now Lao Qi also came over and tested his stomach, and the poison in his stomach dissolved, which means When Chen Shangting drank the poisoned wine, he must have known that the wine contained poison."

"Is it possible that he was poisoned after death?" Wei Shantai continued to ask.

"No." Ziyi replied: "We didn't find any scars on Chen Shangting's body, and we are sure that Chen Shangting did die from the poison of Hedinghong. We asked the servants guarding outside Chen Shangting's study, but they didn't listen. If there is any movement in the house, then there is no possibility of someone entering the study to attack." After a pause, he continued: "The most important thing is, if Chen Shangting was poured with poisoned wine after his death, then the poisoned wine would never be in his stomach. dissolve."

Wei Shantai nodded in satisfaction, and said softly: "It seems that he really committed suicide."

He walked slowly to the side of Chen Shangting's body, stared at Chen Shangting's face with a very strange smile, and sighed: "Brother Chen, what kind of thing made you go on this road of no return?"

"My lord, do we need to search the study to see if there are any clues?" Zi Yi suddenly said, "My lord didn't tell you before, and we didn't tamper with anything in the study."

Wei Shantai shook his head, and said lightly: "What he doesn't want us to know, even if we dig three feet into the ground, there will be no clues." After a pause, he sighed: "If he wants us to know something, something Maybe it's on him."

While speaking, Wei Shantai took out a silver silk glove from his bosom, put it on his right hand, and then groped Chen Shangting's body lightly. After a while, his hand stopped on Chen Shangting's waist. a piece of paper.

Wei Shantai opened it slowly, and it was an excellent piece of rice paper, square and upright, with two imposing brush characters written on it.

Wei Shantai read softly: "Heavenly way!"

He frowned, as if he was thinking about the hidden meaning of these two words.

The Bank of the Ministry of Households of Dachu.

Except for Prince Yin and Luo Wuyan, everyone was shocked. Even though Mo Yi and his like had vaguely known what happened before, they were still shocked when an empty warehouse was placed in front of everyone.

Xue Poye only thought it was unbelievable that the majestic Dachu household department bank was actually empty, not even a penny of money, no one could have imagined this.

Prince Yin's cold voice slowly sounded in the warehouse: "Everyone has also seen that there is no money in the silver treasury of my Dachu household department. What you see is only this warehouse. According to the statistics, there are 37 million taels in total, in other words, the 600 million taels of official silver in my Dachu suddenly disappeared.”

Twenty-six million taels of official silver!

Everyone gasped.

This number is so huge that no one dares to imagine, what kind of wealth is that?

Although Prince Yin looked quite calm, people with discerning eyes could already see that Prince Yin's body was trembling slightly, and his face was even a little pale.

As the Minister of the Household Department, Prince Yin’s authority in the Household Department is definitely not lower than Chen Shangting, the Minister of the Household Department. Now that the treasury of the Household Department has lost a huge amount of silver, Prince Yin is naturally involved. The prince was even in danger of his life.

Just imagine the loss of such a huge official bank, what kind of event it is, and how huge the manpower and material resources are involved in it, even if you try your best to cover it up, how can you not reveal a trace of clues, but Prince Yin, who is the servant of the household department, did not Half a thread realized that the crime was so serious that it was really indescribable.

Coupled with the fact that Chen Shangting, the minister of the household department, committed suicide, the head of the household department is naturally Prince Yin, and he also bears the responsibility for the loss of the official bank.

Prince Yin's heart has long been chilled to the bottom, and he has been focusing on the open and secret fight with Prince Fu. Who knows that in the end, it turned out to be a fire in the backyard. This crisis is more dangerous than the political struggle that just faded away.

"The bank of the household department has always been heavily guarded. It is no exaggeration to say that even flies and mosquitoes may not be able to fly in. Moreover, there are heavy guards from the garrison outside. It stands to reason that it is safe." Prince Yin took a deep breath and slowly Slowly said: "Until yesterday, my father made a decree to transfer the money to Beiguan for payment, and today the bank opened, and then I found out that my big Chu bank has been stolen from the bank. This...!" Prince Yin's face was gloomy, Did not go on.

Everyone present felt the seriousness of the situation.

Luo Wuyan is the garrison of the Kyoto garrison, and the bank of the household department has always been guarded by the garrison. Now that the bank is stolen, Luo Wuyan is naturally to blame, so his face is also extremely ugly.

Everyone finds it inconceivable, how could so much money be stolen from a bank where even mosquitoes are hard to get into, even with several traps?

This is not a tael of silver, a hundred taels of silver, or even 2 taels, but 600 million taels. Even if this batch of official silver has to be shipped out of the treasury of the household department, it would be troublesome, but why did it disappear out of thin air? Didn't the defenders notice it?

Ministry of Justice: "Your Highness, is this matter related to Chen Shangting?"

Prince Yin gritted his teeth, and then said coldly: "I am afraid that he is the only one who has the ability to freely enter and leave the bank. This matter has a lot to do with him."

Teng Xifeng said slowly: "But Chen Shangting is dead now. With Chen Shangting's scheming, even if Master Wei is involved, I am afraid that he will not find too many clues."

Prince Yin glanced at everyone, and said slowly: "The Ministry of Punishment, the capital city, and your Yulin Camp are all places where my great Chu masters gather. I'm afraid I will have to trouble you all to do your best on this case." Pause , sneered and said: "This matter happened, I am naturally responsible for it, but my father also ordered you to deal with this matter together, you must find out the truth, otherwise... Hehe, you should also know that the military salary is not high. If it is in place, there is no guarantee that there will be troubles in the military department, and the emperor will say that he will use some people to take the blame."

He said this very frankly. Once the military salary is not paid, the border guards will naturally be very dissatisfied. Mutiny can happen at any time. This is by no means something that one or two people can stop. At that time, His Majesty the Emperor will always choose some people to stand in for the dead. And this scapegoat, who is not sure, is someone or a few people present.

These people are very scheming people, but now, they can't help feeling chills.

Luo Wuyan didn't mention the garrison camp in Prince Yin's words, knowing that he was deliberately ridiculing him, his face was even more ugly, but this time the incident had something to do with the garrison camp, so he could only close his eyes helplessly.

Although Xue Poye was shocked and puzzled by the theft of Kuyin, he was not impressed by Prince Yin's slightly threatening words.

I am only the deputy general guard of Habayashi, no matter how I find a substitute for the dead ghost, it will not be my turn that night.

After all, the loss of Ku Yin has almost nothing to do with Habayashi Wei. Yubayashi Ying was only transferred to change defense today. If anyone present is the safest, apart from Xue Poye, it is Teng Xifeng.

These two people had nothing to do with this time, so they just laughed off Prince Yin's threatening words.

However, Mo Yi and Liu Tuo from the Ministry of Punishment, and Luo Wuyan from the garrison camp knew that Prince Yin's words were very likely.

Luo Wuyan's dereliction of duty is naturally to blame, and if the Ministry of Criminal Justice does not investigate the case to the bottom and recover the stolen official bank, it is very likely that His Majesty will be angered by His Majesty, and it is definitely not alarmist to take the blame.

So the expressions of these people changed drastically.

Luo Wuyan, who had been silent all this time, finally said: "Your Highness, tens of millions of taels of official silver, not every drop, even if it is to be transported out of the city, it is extremely difficult. I have ordered the garrison to search the whole city, and it is impossible Notified Lord Admiral Hou of the four gates to strictly check the vehicles and packages entering and leaving the four gates."

Moy frowned and said, "It's very difficult to transport so much silver out of the treasury. How can we get to the city gate? Could it be that they all flew away with wings?"

Prince Yin touched the smooth and cold stone frame, and said with a sneer: "The official bank has been stolen, and the hidden secrets inside may be no small matter. I think with Chen Shangting's strength alone, even if he has the ability to reach the sky, it will be difficult to succeed. With him Behind, there must be a group of people."

Luo Wuyan immediately echoed: "What Your Highness said is that this must be a well-planned conspiracy."

Teng Xifeng suddenly said: "Master Luo, have you already sent people to search around?"

Luo Wuyan nodded and said, "Not bad."

"Master Luo means that the news of the theft of the household bank has been spread?" Teng Xifeng frowned and said in a cold voice. Although he is in charge of the Habayashi Guard, he belongs to the emperor's confidant, so his power is far greater than him. His official position must be high, and he has more or less the right to intervene in anything in the court.

Luo Wuyan's expression froze, as if he realized something, cold sweat broke out on his forehead instantly.

Teng Xifeng sneered and said, "Master Luo, are you trying to kill His Highness the Second Highness?"

"I...I...!" Luo Wuyan realized that he had made a huge mistake, and was frightened for a moment, unable to speak.

However, Xue Poye immediately understood the meaning of it. What the court is most worried about now is that the officers and soldiers at the border will mutiny because of the military payment incident. This is by no means alarmist. Now, a mutiny may occur at any time, so the news of the theft of the treasury bank must be concealed if it can be concealed, and delaying time is the best.

Now that Luo Wuyan is searching the official bank with great fanfare, it is tantamount to announcing to the world that the official bank has been stolen. Those with a little tact can figure out the key points if they are not sure. Once the news of the official bank being stolen is spread around, it will soon be It will be spread to the ears of border soldiers, and then it will be very bad.

As for the transfer of silver taels from other warehouses, of course it is not impossible, but other silvers naturally have their own purposes, the salaries of officials in the world, the civil engineering works in the water of Dachu, and the relief of hungry people. To tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, maybe there will be trouble inside first.

The best solution at present is naturally to hide the news first, raise money everywhere, and send the money to the border. If the border guards don't know that the official money has been stolen, they will just fabricate some lies and say that the journey will be delayed for a while. In addition, get back the lost silver as soon as possible.

If the news leaked out, the time to raise money would naturally be too late. Only by recovering the lost money in the shortest possible time and transporting it to the border could the potential crisis be resolved.

Prince Yin's face turned even paler, and he snorted coldly.

Luo Wuyan was even more terrified, and stretched out his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but his hand was so soft that he couldn't lift it up for a while.